Have Afghan Taliban turned rogue?

Frustration on part of Pakistan stems from the fact it never thought Afghan Taliban would work against its interests

Make no mistake. Relations between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban are on the edge. In a hard-hitting press conference last week, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar virtually issued a charge-sheet against the Taliban regime. It was unusual for a Pakistani leader to publically level such serious allegations against Kabul. Even when Pak-Afghan ties had been facing challenges during the Karzai and Ghani administrations, Islamabad tried its best to use diplomatic channels to sort out differences. No one could have imagined that the Pakistani Prime Minister had to address a press conference, castigating the Taliban government. It was unprecedented given Pakistan’s historic ties with the Afghan Taliban, who were often dubbed as Islamabad’s proxy.

Kakar’s press conference was a rejoinder to a series of statements given by the Afghan Taliban leadership over the past few days. From their interim Prime Minister to Foreign Minister and from defence minister to interior minister, Kabul publicly denounced Islamabad’s policy of deporting Afghans residing in Pakistan illegally. They have also strongly rejected Pakistan’s allegations that the Taliban government was harbouring the banned TTP. Interim Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani insists that the TTP problem predates the Taliban return. Sirajuddin, who heads the Haqqani network, says TTP is Pakistan’s internal problem. Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi claims that evicting Afghan refugees from Pakistan is aimed at pressuring Kabul. Muttaqi told BBC that by these measures, Pakistan wanted to push the Afghan Taliban to take action against the TTP and recognize Durand Line as international border. He reiterated Kabul’s stance that TTP was not operating from Afghan soil while on Durand Line he stressed the matter was beyond the purview of the interim government.

Such hostile statements were the last thing Pakistan expected from the Afghan Taliban given the fact that Islamabad, for years, endured strong criticism from the outside world, particularly the West, for backing the insurgent group.

The frustration on the part of Pakistan stems from the fact that it never thought the Afghan Taliban would work against its interests. Pakistan was convinced that the return of the Afghan Taliban at the helm would help address its security concerns. Policymakers in Pakistan thought that unlike the Karzai and Ghani administrations, the Taliban regime would neutralise or at least not allow the TTP to operate from Afghan soil. Initially, Pakistan was ready to give the interim government some time to settle down before tackling the issue. Pakistan even entered into peace talks, albeit half-heartedly at the request of the Afghan Taliban, to find a political solution to the TTP problem. But those efforts were nothing but a futile exercise.

According to Prime Minister Kakar, there has been a 60 per cent increase in terrorist attacks since the Taliban return to power while the number of suicide attacks has gone up by 500 per cent. Kakar also revealed that Pakistan earlier this year had given a clear message to Kabul to choose between Pakistan and the TTP. But it is apparent and the developments of the past few months suggest that the Afghan Taliban are not ready to part ways with the TTP and hence the stalemate. The previous establishment under General Qamar Javed Bajwa followed the policy of appeasement despite Afghan Taliban’s support for TTP. The decision-makers, perhaps, were thinking of a larger strategic objective and were therefore going soft.

But the current establishment has abandoned the policy of appeasement. The message is clear — if you provide sanctuaries to our enemies then don’t expect any favours from us. That was the reason why PM Kakar went public with Pakistan’s anger. Not only has Pakistan decided not to advocate the Afghan Taliban’s case at the international level, but it would not either make efforts seeking international recognition for the Kabul regime. Those who conceived the idea of backing the Afghan Taliban must be questioned as their policy was an utter failure!

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2023.

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